took the plunge and bought this 16g player as upgrade to my now full 8g 3rd gen nano

first impressions:

looks very nice, well made, but will need a protective case im thinking.
partly due to the fact that the side where the screen meets the case is quite sharp to the touch - not great for a hand held device im thinking :/ ...but nano is the same

the GOOD news is that it does work with all the itunes music i have tried,
so DRM, protected AAC etc not an issue - this was worrying my slightly before.

installed the onboard software and then easily transfered tunes direct from itunes

sounds very nice - super clear sounds - oh, and the Volume level appears OK for me got up to 20 as a trial and that was loud enough for normal volume up listening.

think i might need to rebuild my tune library though as it has added all the individual artists from single tracks as albums, which isnt great - but think the ipod did the same :/

hope to attach some pics in a bit

will add further updates etc

cheers
dan

....not actually tried my bose phones yet - am using my senn omx95s - so will need to test the boses later on

Very nice to hear it's you found a DAP to your tastes. With both the iTunes stuff and volume cap not being an issue you should be in for some mighty fine listening. Good to hear more feedback that EU cap isn't a problem with good headphones and reasonable listening levels. I'd definitely want to hear your impressions using the Bose.

That' a sweet looking DAP. I'd look into a case to keep that new feel. If things work out right you should have this one for a good while. I wouldn't want mine to get scratched up right from the start.

hi skip,
thanks yes i think a case is def on the cards asap - gonna get a hard plastic one rather than silicone i think

btw: did notice that the space only showed as 41g rather than 16g - i had already removed all the pre loaded tunes and pics :/ assume that must be used up by the install s/w - but not sure if i should remove that - anyways - not an issue yet

You mean 14 instead of 16 GB? The reported space will always be less than what the advertised space is. Some is eaten by the firmware and some is in how the manufacturers count what's GB. Check the fine print in the specs for details. What they call a GB and what your system reports as a GB are different.

Personally I just dumped all the included stuff from mine into a folder on my PC. None of it was to my taste and I didn't use the software. The reported space was still a lot less than 16GB, I don't remember exactly what that was.

hi skip,
thanks yes i think a case is def on the cards asap - gonna get a hard plastic one rather than silicone i think

btw: did notice that the space only showed as 41g rather than 16g - i had already removed all the pre loaded tunes and pics :/ assume that must be used up by the install s/w - but not sure if i should remove that - anyways - not an issue yet

cheers
dan

yes will update you on the bose phones when i try em

A word of warning regarding cases...

I have the hard plastic case on my Sony S639. I dropped it in the grocery store a couple of weeks ago(headphone cord caught on something) and when it hit the ground, the case broke into its two pieces, and each one went flying, while the player ended up at my feet(I almost stepped on it!). I had a heck of a time finding both pieces of the case, but once I did, it went back together just fine.

So I'd recommend the silicone skin and a screen protector instead of a hard plastic case.....that's a nice looking player, keep it safe!

hi Lestatar
thanks it is a good looking device for sure,
and initial sound tests seem good too
cheers
dan

Despite the low battery life (8 hours, shocking for me since my Cowon D2 is lasting at least 40 hours, but probably less shocking for you, coming from a Nano), I really find these Sony A84x to have very good sound.

What shocked me when I got my A847 was how much clarity you get with a flat EQ, especially in the mids. A step up from the D2 in that regard.

EQ possibilities are more limited than on the D2, but I could always find settings which suited me with every IEMs I threw at them.